Knitting machine comprising needle jacks



April 5, 1938. v H. LEEDHAM ET AL 2,113,053

KNITTING MACHINE COMPRISING NEEDLE JACKS Filed July 15, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IIVNTOR MW i514; M (-M April 1938- H. LEEDHAM ET AL 13,053

KNITTING MACHINE COMPRISING NEEDLE JACKS Filed July 15, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Patented Apr. 5, 1938 PATENT OFFICE KNITTING MACHINE COMPRISING NEEDLE JACKS Leslie Herbert Leedham and Henry Harold Holmes, Leicester, England, assignors to Wildt and Company, Limited, Leicester, England, a

British company Application July 15, 1936, Serial No. 90,660 In Great Britain August 9, 1935 5 Claims.

This invention consists in improvements in or relating to knitting machines comprising needle jacks which are associated with the needles and in particular is concerned with the improvement of the means disclosed in United States Patent No. 1,722,989. In some circumstances, partic ularly in the case in which the butt ends of the needle jacks are normally sprung away from the beds of the tricks in which they are situated, the action of selecting means for the needle jacks is found to tend to move the upper ends of those jacks outwardly from the tricks and this movement may be transmitted to the needles with which they are associated, to the detriment of action of the latter. This is especially to be avoided when the needles are of fine gauge. I

An object of the invention is to avoid this drawback and accordingly the present invention comprises the combination of sprung needle-jacks and substantially rigid means acting on the upper ends thereof at least during the time at which movement of the jacks occurs, such means serving to restrain the upper ends of the jacks from moving outwardly.

Preferably, when sprung jacks are employed the invention comprises the combination of sprung needle jacks and substantially rigid means acting on the upper ends thereof at least during the time at which the lower ends of the jacks are moved against the action of their springs to prevent the upper ends of the jacks from moving outwardly.

Hitherto, spring bands have been employed at or near their upper ends but these spring bands are found in practice to be insufiicient to provide the necessary restraint for the upper ends of the needle jacks.

Preferably, the restraining means employed by the present invention will be entirely rigid although when they are described as substantially rigid this mrm is employed to include a construction in which the restraining means may be somewhat resilient but insufiiciently resilient to permit any outward movement of the upper ends of the jacks.

A sprung needle jack is to be understood as a jack which is either associated with an additional spring or is so formed of resilient material that the butt at its end is normally held resiliently in one position, e. g. at a position within the influence of a lifting cam, and is operable against that spring or against its own resilience into another position, e. g. into a position whereby it is not engaged by a lifting cam.

Moreover, a needle jack within the present clearly understood a preferred example will now be described with the aid of the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation partly in section of those portions of a knitting machine necessary for the understanding of the invention, and

Figure 2 is a section on the line 22 of Figure 1. I

Like reference numerals indicate like parts in the accompanying drawings.

The invention is illustrated as applied to a circular knitting machine having a needle cylinder It provided with tricks I l for needles and associated needle jacks i2, 13. For each needle there will be a pair of jacks such as l2 and i3 disposed end on to one another and to their needle.

Concentric with the axis of the needle cylinder is a jack presser cam 14 arranged at the upper ends of the needle jacks I3 with a depth, parallel with the axis of the machine, sufficient to main tain engagement with those upper ends during the vertical sliding movements of the jacks as they are operated to control the needle movements.

The jacks 13 have relatively rigid upper portions and tail portions l30 which are of a resilient nature and normally rest in the position illustrated in Figure 1 where their lower butts [3! remain in operative relation to a raising and selecting cam l5.

Between the presser cam M and the needle cylinder there will be relative rotation about the axis of the machine and in the present instance it is the needle cylinder which is to be understood as rotating in company with a cylinder extension I6 and a base or support ring ll. The circumferential extent of cam I l, as shown in Figure 2, will be sufiicient to embrace from moment to moment the jacks lying in that centre in which the vertical jack movement will occur under the action for instance of cam 15.

The needle selecting means illustrated is of well known type comprising a tricked cylinder I8 having in its tricks a plurality of pattern-controlling bits H! which operate through the intermediary of vertically spaced presser cams on butts 2| provided on swinging elements 22 of which there is one such element associated with, to lie in front of and to press against the spring end I30 of each jack l3. The pattern selection of the needles will be in accordance with the lay out of butts such as 23 on bits 19 and the lay out of the butts 2!.

The invention is particularly useful in the case in which needle-selecting means and sinkerse lecting means are employed, as described in U. S. patent application, Ser. No. 94,666, filed Aug. 6, 1936. This is so because in that case the sinker mechanism, which must necessarily occupy a certain vertical dimension, is disposed above the needle-selecting drum and in order to give adequate clearance between the two patterning devices extra long jacks are required. This condition is indicated in Figure l in which sinkers 24 are selectively controlled from a sinker patterning drum 25 formed with tricks for the reception of pattern bits 26 which control and select sinkers 24 through the medium of vertically spaced swinging cams 21 and intermediate selector elements 28. Owing to the necessity for allowing adequate space for the needle-patterning mechanism controlled from drum l8 and for the sinkerpatterning mechanism controlled from drum 25, the jacks in the present example are made sufficiently long by using a main selecting jack I 3 and an intermediate jack [2. By this means, the jacks l3 may be conveniently removed from the lower cylinder, whereas had the jack extended back of the needle as in United States Patent No. 1,722,989, it would not have been possible to Withdraw same.

The invention is equally applicable to a fixed cylinder machine in which case the patterning mechanism as a whole will revolve around the axis of the cylinder in conformity with known practice. The invention is also applicable to flat frame or straight bar machines, necessary modifications for the application of the present invention thereto being well understood.

Alternatively, the invention may be applied to machines having any other preferred or known form of needle bed.

We claim:-

1. In or for a knitting machine, the combination of needles, sprung needle jacks having relatively resilient and non-resilient portions, pattern-selecting means to cooperate with the resilient portions of the jacks, and substantially rigid means to press upon the relatively nonresilient portions at least during the time at which the resilient portions are being flexed by selection of the pattern-selecting means.

2. In or for a knitting machine, the combination according to claim 1 in which the relatively non-resilient portions of the jacks are situated at the upper ends thereof and the resilient portions at the lower ends, and the jacks are arranged beneath their associated needles.

3. In or for a knitting machine, the combination of needles, sprung needle jacks having relatively resilient and non-resilient portions, pattern-selecting means to cooperate with the resilient portions of the jacks, and rigid means comprising a cam that is moved into engagement seriatim with the needle jacks to press upon the relatively non-resilient portions at least during the time at which the resilient portions are being flexed by selection of the pattern-selecting means.

4. A circular knitting machine comprising in combination a needle cylinder, needles and associated jacks therein, said jacks having relatively non-resilient upper portions and relatively resilient lower portions with butts projecting therefrom, pattern-selecting means to cooperate with and engage selected butts to move the lower extremities of the jacks against the resilience of their lower portions, and a. cam relatively rotatable with respect to the jacks about the axis of the machine to press against the upper ends of the jacks seriatim and to engage those ends during at least the time that the lower ends are being moved against their resilience.

5. In a knitting machine, the combination of needles, sprung needle jacks having relatively resilient and non-resilient portions, pattern selecting means to cooperate with the resilient por-. tions of the jacks, and means relatively rotatable with respect to the jacks and movable into engagement with the needle jacks so as to press inwardly against the non-resilient portions thereof seriatim, and to engage those portions at least during the time at which the resilient portions are being moved against their resilience 'by'the pattern selecting means.

LESLIE HERBERT LEEDHAM. HENRY HAROLD HOLMES. 

